Field of the Invention
Some embodiments described herein relate to the general field of connected objects.
Description of the Related Art
Some embodiments described herein relate more particularly to configuring connected objects, i.e. setting their parameters. No limitation is associated with the nature of the connected objects under consideration. They may equally well be objects relating to timekeeping (e.g. a watch), to home automation, to surveillance, to leisure (e.g. clothing), to health (e.g. activity tracker tools, sleep tracker tools, pill boxes, etc.), toys, etc.
An explosion is currently taking place in the market for connected objects. In known manner, such objects are connected to the public Internet network (indeed use is made of the term “the Internet of things”) and they can communicate with other systems, such as for example a smartphone, a touch-sensitive digital tablet, and/or a computer in order to obtain or supply information. Such communication relies on a wired connection or on a wireless connection of Bluetooth™ or WiFi™ type. Such objects can thus be configured to collect and store information as a function of their environment (e.g. a user's heart rate for a heart rate monitor watch) or indeed to trigger an action as a function of information collected from the web (e.g. water a garden on the eve of a dry day). It should be observed that their primary purpose is not to act as computer peripherals or as interfaces giving access to the web; adding a web connection to such an object enables it to provide additional value in terms of function, use, information, and/or interaction with the environment. Interactivity with such objects is thus very important.
In order to use such a connected object, it is necessary beforehand to initialize it, i.e. to configure some number of parameters of the object, e.g. parameters specific to its use (e.g. frequency with which information is collected and/or returned, etc.), or parameters enabling it to connect with other systems. By way of illustration, for an object that is to connect to the Internet via a WiFi network, this initialization stage includes providing the object with mechanisms for making a connection to the WiFi network, e.g. by setting a login and a password enabling it to access the network, by setting a wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key, etc.
At present, in order to initialize a connected object, it is generally necessary either to use a personal computer (PC) to run an installation disk as supplied by the manufacturer of the connected object, or else to visit the manufacturer's web site in order to download software (commonly referred to as a “driver”) that is specific to the connected object and appropriate for the operating system of the computer. Regardless of whether the software comes from a web site or from a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital versatile disk (DVD), once it has been loaded into the computer it is installed in its operating system. In order to be able to use the connected object, it is therefore necessary to run the software and follow the procedure in the software for installing and configuring the connected object (setting its parameters).
Nevertheless, it needs to be observed that most of this software specific to connected objects is available or can be downloaded and executed only by using a computer. However, the users of connected objects do not necessarily have such a computer permanently available to them. In particular, they may have only a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or indeed a touch-sensitive digital tablet.
At present, essentially for security reasons, there is no provision for mobile terminals such as smartphones or digital tablets to download specific software for initializing connected objects. In particular, such software acts at a very low level (i.e. at operating system level), and it constitutes a risk that is too great in terms of security for mobile terminals, which are more vulnerable than PC-type computers (i.e. more sensitive to viruses and Trojan horses in particular).
There therefore exists a need for a solution enabling a connected object to be configured without presenting the drawbacks of the prior art and suitable for use in particular from a mobile terminal.